The CodeRed was issued more than 10 hours before the National Weather Service.
KERRVILLE, Texas — Kerr County issued a CodeRed message late last night ahead of possible flooding Sunday.
The County issued an alert around 10:20 p.m. Saturday which stated:
“The Weather Prediction Center Excessive Rainfall Outlook for the rest of tonight into Sunday morning has been updated to reflect a moderate (Level 3 of 4) risk of excessive rainfall across the southern Edwards Plateau and Hill Country. New rainfall estimates are 2 to 4 inches with isolated 9 inches possible across the Flood Watch area.
Rapid river rises are possible across the Rio Grande, southern Edwards Plateau, and Hill Country.
If you are near water and it starts raining, get to high ground.”
The CodeRed was issued more than 10 hours before the National Weather Service flood warning at 9:10 a.m. Sunday.
The NWS warning stated, “Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly,” that warning was over in three hours – a stark difference to July 4th when devastating flooding tore through the county.
The morning before that devastating flooding, the National Weather Service had issued a flood warning around 1:14 a.m. and then issued a Flash Flooding Emergency alert at 4:03 a.m.
That Friday, residents didn’t report seeing a CodeRed from the county until 5:30 a.m. at the earliest, according to CBS News.
The contrast also helps underscore the unpredictability of flooding events.
On July 4, NWS data showed the Guadalupe River at Hunt rising to more than 37 feet. Sunday, that river was forecasted to rise to 13 feet. Instead, it didn’t even break 10 feet by 7:30 p.m.
At the same time, many low water crossings in Kerr County did flood and both county officials and state troopers again worked to close off those roads and prevent people from getting near the dangerous areas.